Rare Staff Defects to Sony

A core group of Rare developers set off to create exclusive Sony games

By IGN Staff

Funded by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, a small group of developers from Rare have splintered off to form its own group called Eighth Wonder.

This major defection from one of Nintendo's most loyal and productive developers is stunning, considering Rare's business relationship with Nintendo. Even more disturbing is that the group approached Sony first with a business deal.

"We approached Sony because we viewed them as the market leader and we want to develop a series of market leading products," said Oliver Davies, one of Rare's former game designers. "We regard PlayStation as being the most versatile of the next-generation consoles."

But it's likely that this group of developers wasn't just interested in working on "the most versatile of the next-generation consoles". It's probable the group, like many young developers, wanted more independence and control of their own product. Additionally, it's believed that Sony offered a comparable sum of cash for this development team to start up its own company and leave Rare.

Sony has committed to publishing the company's first three games and has the right of refusal of the next three. Rare, the makers of the Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct, Blast Corps, and the upcoming GoldenEye 007, has been a long-time loyal developer with Nintendo, which took a 25% stake in the company two years ago.